


Long Way Home

by zarabithia



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comic)
Genre: Community: schmoop_bingo, F/F, Sexual Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-31
Updated: 2010-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-14 06:51:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/146558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy and Faith have plenty of mistakes they plan on not apologizing for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Way Home

**Author's Note:**

> This story incorporates some of Season 8's storyline, namely the Buffy/Satsu pairing. I am willfully ignoring/changing the rest of it.

"What are you even doing here?" Faith says, by way of greeting, and Buffy is left with the familiar feeling of uncertainty as she stands in the doorway of Faith's apartment. Any given conversation with Faith has the opportunity to either go extremely well or to rapidly descend into a free fall, leaving Buffy desperately fumbling for her footing.

No demon has ever been that difficult – not even Angelus. It's an irritating pattern, and on her more rational days, Buffy absolutely acknowledges that it's part of the reason she and Faith keep repeating their high-school aged squabbles. Buffy doesn't like being taken by surprise in a fight; she likes losing even less. With Faith, there's plenty of opportunity for both to happen.

"I'm happy to see you too," Buffy retorts and she tries to keep her voice light when she does so. She tries to force her muscles to relax and attempts to let go of the natural Slayer urge to prepare for a fight when the situation has even the slightest chance of turning hostile.

It's not why she's here. It's so far removed from why she's here that it might as well be living on opposite world.

Faith looks at her for a minute, and Buffy can see her muscles tense, too. Then Faith shrugs, and steps back into the apartment. It's the closest Buffy supposes she'll get to an invitation, so she steps in.

"Other than happiness, what brought you by?" Faith asks, walking over to the coffee table. There's a layer of gauze, a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a tube of anti-bacterial ointment sitting on the coffee table beside the sofa. It's definitely a Slayer's living quarters – normal people keep their first aid supplies confined to one or two rooms. But Buffy is willing to bet there's a steady supply of supplies in every room. Slayer healing or not, bleeding is part of the deal.

And when Faith pulls off her shirt, she reveals evidence of why.

"Oh, god, what happened to you?" Buffy asks, because that is the correct question to ask someone who has three very large scratch marks going across their entire stomach.

"A demon," Faith says, wincing slightly as she cleans the scratch marks.

"Yeah, I could have guessed that."

"Then why'd you ask?"

"Call me crazy, but I was hoping for something a little more specific."

"I already cleared it up with Giles. It's large, green, has a name that doesn't really matter, and doesn't transmit its demony state through scratches. I killed it; it's taken care of. Everyone gets a good swipe now and then," Faith says defensively. "Shouldn't you know that, Little Miss I've Been Killed Multiple Times?"

"You know, I really didn't come here to fight with you."

"Then why don't you tell me why you did?" Faith tosses Buffy the gauze. "And help me bandage up, while you're at it. If you're going to be here while I strip, you might as well be useful."

Well, that's an improvement. A definite improvement, because how often does Faith ask anyone for help? Buffy realizes she is smiling a bit too widely as she goes over to bandage Faith, and naturally, Faith realizes it, too.

"Boy, you weren't kidding about being happy to see me," Faith remarks. "Or maybe it's just the half-naked me. I hear naked women are your thing these days."

Buffy nearly drops the gauze and Faith laughs at her obvious surprise. "Make sure you wrap that tight, Summers. It keeps coming loose in the middle of battle, and having a vampire laugh at your hanging bandages sucks."

"How do you know?" Buffy asks, quickly clarifying, "About the women thing. I can kind of guess how you know about the hanging bandage deal."

"You should watch which Slayers you send me to help out around Cleveland's hellmouth," Faith answers. "Some of them like to talk."

"I'll keep that in mind," Buffy says irritably, drawing the bandage more tightly against Faith. "Is that tight enough?"

"Pull it around one more time," Faith answers, and Buffy can feel Faith's gaze on her as she tugs the bandage into place. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Summers. I thought you figured that out a long time ago, what with the little gay witch friend and all."

"I'm not ashamed," Buffy denies. "It's just ... well, it's my secret to tell. Maybe this isn't the way I wanted to tell you."

"Is that why you're here?" Faith asks, and Buffy is suddenly acutely aware of the fact that her hands no longer have anything left to _do_ and she is standing only inches from a barely clothed Faith.

That familiar feeling of losing her footing is back, but this time flight is looking a bit better of an option than fight.

"My last relationship with a Slayer, it didn't end well," Buffy says. "Okay, hello, there, world's biggest understatement. Also, I treated her kind of badly. Okay, that's also an understatement."

"This is an interesting confessional, Summers," Faith interrupts, "but I should warn you that lost my priest costume when I went to prison."

"Why did you have a priest costume?"

"Hey, we're talking about your sex life, not mine." Faith smirks at Buffy, managing to imply more seediness in that one twist of her lips than Buffy has ever actually _done_.

"Right. Anyway, during the break-up, when I was being a horrible person, it may have been implied that I was using her as a substitute for you," Buffy continues. "I mean, I wasn't. At least, I'm pretty sure I wasn't _that_ awful. But ... you know. Slayer. Didn't always listen to my commands. It might have been a tiny bit of a pattern. Maybe."

"I want to meet this other Slayer," Faith declares. "First, to congratulate her on the obvious ovaries of steel. Secondly, to suggest possible a possible threesome."

The flight urge settles a bit, and Buffy is suddenly acutely aware that Faith hasn't made so much as a solitary move to put her shirt on.

"Yeah, I don't think she's going to be up for that anytime soon," Buffy says.

"Too bad," Faith answers with a shrug. "I guess it's just going to be me and you then."

"Really?" Buffy replies, then she frowns, because that sounds entirely too eager. She's still not even sure about this whole liking girls business and this is _Faith._ Both are good reasons to be cautious, and to dial back the overeagerness. "I mean, I was pretty sure you were straight."

"And you still flew thousands of miles to see me, even though you weren't sure?" Faith asks.

"Well," Buffy says, because it really does sound silly when it's said out in the open that way. "We own the jet. Technically."

"You're a mess," Faith tells her. "Almost as much of a mess as I am."

"Maybe," Buffy agrees.

"You're agreeing with me, Summers? That's never a good sign," Faith teases her. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be the optimist? Isn't this where you tell me that we can kiss it away and make it all better?"

"I guess that depends on how well you kiss."

Faith's lips twist, revealing plainly that she doesn't believe that's possible, and maybe it isn't. But far more importantly, Faith doesn't pull away when Buffy leans in for that first kiss.

"Best kiss you've ever had?" It's not really a question. It has too much of Faith's confidence for it to be that, exactly.

For the first time since she landed in Ohio, Buffy is feeling pretty confident herself. "It's not a bad first try," Buffy retorts.

"Oh, I can do better," Faith assures her, and the rest of the afternoon is used to demonstrate that truth. After all, Buffy and Faith have plenty of mistakes to not apologize for, and even more wounds to not make entirely better with their kisses.


End file.
